Clay Nesler

Vice President, Global Sustainability and Industry Initiatives

Johnson Controls

Clay Nesler is the Vice President, Global Energy and Sustainability for the Building Efficiency business of Johnson Controls. In this role, he is responsible for energy and sustainability policy, programs and strategy. He also leads the company’s global environmental sustainability council and is responsible for environmental and sustainability practices across the company’s global manufacturing operations. Since joining Johnson Controls in 1983, Clay has held a variety of leadership positions in research, product development, marketing, strategy and corporate sustainability in both the United States and Europe.

Nesler serves on the board of American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, the executive group of the US DOE/EPA SEE Action network and is a member of the Alliance to Save Energy International Steering Committee. He helped establish the UN Sustainable Energy for All Building Efficiency Accelerator and serves as chair of the Industrial Advisory Board of the US-China Clean Energy Research Center and a member of the International Energy Agency Energy Efficiency Industry Advisory Board.

In 2009, Clay started the Johnson Controls Institute for Building Efficiency which has recently been integrated within the World Resources Institute Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. Clay has previously served as vice-chair of the World Environment Center, the advisory board of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering and as a sustainable buildings track advisor to the Clinton Global Initiative.

Nesler received BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a co-inventor on twelve patents. He is a winner of the 2005 Corenet Global Innovator’s Award, the 2012 VERGE 25 award and received a 2015 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering.

No one in the energy efficiency space has the voice and reach that the Alliance does as a bipartisan, business-led coalition proving that efficiency is an economic opportunity delivering a huge return on investment and enormous environmental benefits.